Winners and losers from first two rounds of NCAA tournament

The NCAA tournament is through the first two full rounds. Here are the winners and the losers thus far.

Winner: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

By our count, the "Veep" actress and Northwestern alum won the camera battle with Doug Collins (Chris Collins' father), 5-4, during Saturday's game. Bonus for her: Her son, walk-on Charlie Hall, subbed in with 2.9 seconds left and she appeared ready to catch the moment with her camera phone.

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Winner: Brad Hall

Husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, NU alum and father to NU player Charlie Hall got more national TV air time than he's ever had, even when he was on "SNL"

Loser: Gonzaga's shoes

Up close, dark blue shoes with three broad white stripes running across might look cool, but from TV camera distance they elicited a different reaction from some tweeters: "mandals," "Jesus shoes," "look like white birkenstocks with black socks." It just shows the colors can make all the difference. The shoes are actually Nike Zoom LeBron Soldier 10's. James wore the black versions while leading the Cavaliers' comeback run in the NBA Finals.

Winner: Crying/dancing Northwestern kid

Gotta love that emotion.

Winner: LeVar Burton

The actor set a fan straight on Twitter who mistakenly thought he was tweeting trash-talk to LaVar Ball, the father of UCLA star Lonzo Ball. "LeVar you averaged 2.2 PPG, stop running your mouth about MJ. #shutup @MichaelJordaan."

Loser: Skip Bayless

Known for his homer-ism and outlandish (and often wrong) predictions, the co-host of FS1's "Undisputed" suffered a loss on both fronts when alma mater Vanderbilt fell to Northwestern 68-66 in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday. He got knocked down another peg after he seemed to throw Vanderbilt's Matthew Fisher-Davis under the bus in several tweets — and followed up on Friday morning's episode of "Undisputed" by calling him out again.

Winner: Big Ten

Undervalued most of the season, and came into the tourney No. 4 in RPI, but look at them now. Three teams in Sweet 16: Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan.

Loser: ACC

Called best in the nation coming into the tournament, but now only North Carolina remains. And, have to say it: Duke bounced Sunday night.

Winner: Przemek Karnowski’s beard

When the Tribune's Teddy Greenstein asked if the beard's was there to intimidate or just because he doesn't like to shave, Gonzaga's big guy said: "Both."

Winner: TNT's Ernie Johnson

You never expect zingers from the straight-laced, bowtie-wearing moderator, but when he does they're usually gems. "It's been a wonderful story for Northwestern," Johnson said to start the halftime report, with the Wildcats trailing 38-20. "And I'm not saying that it's over now — but it's over now."

Loser: Northwestern's pregame intro

"Middle School Rules" author Sean Jensen, a 1998 Northwestern graduate, tweeted a video of Sanjay Lumpkin being shown on the big screen at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City while Scottie Lindsey's name and number is announced on the public address system. "They butchered our starting lineup," the video's caption reads. "That's a good sign, right?"

Winners: Basketball fans looking for a laugh

Louisville players thought sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson was a spy and stealing the Cardinals' plays. "There's a lady in the huddle stealing our plays," coach Rick Pitino said players told him. "They thought she was giving it to the other team." Despite the paranoia, Louisville beat Jacksonville State 78-63 in the first round of the tournament.

Loser: Brackets

According to ESPN, only 18 of the 18.8 million brackets filled out on its website correctly predicted the entire Sweet 16.

Winner: Northwestern fans

A force in Salt Lake City and never gave up, even when Cats were down by 22 against Gonzaga.

The NCAA tournament is through the first two full rounds. Here are the winners and the losers thus far. (Tim Bannon/Chicago Tribune)